DIY Nikon D70 Infra-red Remote Control

This is just the thing you need to have in your camera bag. I have one that I bought online but if your not in a rush and have the skills to solder this would be a clever little device to have around. Very handy for tripping the shutter when your doing macro work or your doing long exposures where camera vibration is a bad thing.

This is a replacement for the sparsely available Nikon ML-L1 and ML-L3 IR remote controls. Like the original remotes, this very simple circuit allows you to remotely release the D70 shutter or do a bulb exposure while avoiding camera shake. It should also work with other Nikon (d)SLR’s, provided they are supported by the ML-L1 or ML-L3. The IR sensor of the D70 is behind the round black plastic spot above the D70 logo on the body.

[via steve]
Nikon D70 infra-red remote control

EasyStill Home Alcohol Making Kit

EasyStillIf your as lazy as I am the idea of not having to drive down to the local liquor store to get a bottle of booze is quite appealing. How cool would it be to have a distillery in your back room?

EasyStill is a tabletop distillation unit. 4 liters of mash or wine are added and the unit plugged in. No cooling water required no thermometer or other nuisance. The unit is fan cooled. If you forget the unit it switches itself off when the boiling vessel is empty. Warming up takes one hour, and then distillation takes 3 hours. This gives 1.4 liters of spirits of approximately 46% alcohol. Active charcoal purification takes place during distillation through a 500mm purifying tube. The spirits produced have the flavour of vodka and are ready to drink or flavour with essences or herbs. Those choosing the easy way connect up a timer so the process looks after itself.

[via ohqizmo]
EasyStill

MindGuard – Psychotronic Protection


Well… this is, er… different…

Welcome to the MindGuard website, your source for the award-winning MindGuard family of anti-mind-control software for Amiga and Linux computers. Developed by Lyle Zapato during the psychotronically turbulent early 1990s, MindGuard offered Amiga-using paranoids the world over a new opportunity to think free of evil influences using advanced Active Anti-Psychotronic (AAP) software, theretofore only available to mind-control agents and paranoid millionaires. At the dawn of the Third Millennium, MindGuard was made available for even the stingiest paranoids with the introduction of MindGuard X for the free Linux OS. Now no one has an excuse not to be mind-control free!

This could be one of those rare times that I’m happy not running a Linux box at home, I’d be temped to try this. Then again, if it was good for the Amiga maybe I should have a look at it.
Anyway, I always thought the word ‘Psychotronic’ was used to describe real bad grade Z movies like ‘Plan Nine From Outer Space‘ (still the only film I’ve ever rented and couldn’t finish before I had to turn it in).

[via presurfer]
MindGuard Home Page

Cool Water Jet Action Shots

Waterjet in actionThis has got to be one of the best stunts to advertise a moderately obscure service I have ever seen. What is a water jet? Remember how when you were a kid (or maybe you still do this) when you were told to water the lawn you inevitable ended up seeing how deep a hold you could make in the ground by blasting it with the finest setting on the nozzle? Ok, that’s called ‘hydraulic mining‘ but the idea is the same. Shoot ultra high pressure water through a super fine hole and you can cut through stuff. Sometimes a bit of grit is added to give the jet some better cutting action. Wood, plastic, metal, cloth… Just about anything can be cut this way. It’s better than a laser in some ways because there is zero heating. You could cut butter this way if you wanted to. Anyway, this is a link to a great FAQ on the process and some stunning photos on how to seriously void the warranty on your game systems.
[via fosfor gadgets]
Water jet pictures

DIY Electric Kenetic Energy Weapon System

Now this is classic mad scientist stuff! The idea is simple, fling bullets at your target. Ok, it’s a little more complex than that but not very much. This is a simplified version of something that’s been popping up in the tech news lately, the DREAD system. I think the version form 1963 could be made from an Altoids tin and an electric motor from a Furby…

DIY centrifuge weapon from 1963 Popular Mechanics

True Combat Elite

 True Combat Elite

You know, sometimes you just want to kick ass and take names for free. These days finding that all joyful free method to do this is tough. That’s where True Combat Elite enters the pretty picture. It’s a gun toting kick ass first person shooter (FPS) that’s free. Yeah, ya heard me right, free (no, not like beer). It’s built on the popular steel belted free Wolfenstein 3D game engine and features some impressive graphics. Games by gamers, what a concept.
BTW, before the whiny Mac and Linux users start going on about how they get left out of the ultra violence all the time you should know that the game can be downloaded for all the platforms out there (ok, PC, Linux and Macs)
Truth be told I’m a bit of a PC video game virgin so I’m not up on all the latest and greatest in the world of game design (although I hear that F.E.A.R. is pretty good). I’ve always found ‘better’ things to do with my time at the computer than to play games. Well my porn surfing days look to be over because this game looks amazing! I now what I’ll be doing tomorrow, that would be killing stuff! Yearrgh!

TC:Elite – An Enemy Territory Modification